Arena Update:
Donald Carter and some of the Mavs front office went to Lewisville to
survey the potential site for the future arena. Some from the Dallas
city council again accused Carter of trying to pressure them [they need
to get of their lazy behinds if they want to keep the Mavs in Dallas].
Carter also met with a representative of the council last night for an update
of where Dallas was at. Dallas City Manager John Ware is in the hospital
undergoing cancer treatment and Carter has said that he will not make
decision on whether the new arena will be in Lewisville or Dallas until after
Ware returns from his treatment. A decision will probably come sometime
in mid-January. Carter has also said that it is definitely either Dallas
or Lewisville - the other suburbs that have been rounding up bids will
not be considered. Carter: "This (Lewisville) is the only place I have
land bought and paid for."
Keith Grant said on the radio last night that Terry Davis is probably for
Friday's game vs Golden State. Terry did not play Tuesday night.
Phoenix at Dallas (12/27)
First, I have to get down on my knees and thank GM Norm Sonju for the
_excellent_ seats! [No, it wasn't for anything 'net related, he gave
them to me after I called in the radio show and corrected him on the
average age of the youngest team.] We were across the baseline aisle
(there is only one row of seats along the baseline) and up one row.
It was amazing. We got to see how quick Mashburn's cross-over really
is, how tall all the players really are, closeups of two great Kidd
steals, Barkley nearly getting in a fight with a fan who was sitting
on the baseline just in front of us, and so many other things that I
just don't see from our normal seats (high up above). I wouldn't want
them for every game as you can't see the entire floor and the plays
progress as you can from the side and a little ways up, but what a
memory Sonju gave us. And what a night to have excellent seats!
1st Q: The Mavs learned their leason from the night before and Lorenzo
Williams was not guarding Barkley. Mashburn was on Barkley and Lorenzo
was on Tisdale. The Mavs were shooting incredibly well (over 60%) in the
quarter but they had some many mistakes. Players were fumbling the ball
right and left. The Mavs had 7 turnovers in the quarter and the Suns
had a large number of their steals in the quarter too. The Suns played
a good offensive quarter and it was a high scoring affair at 31-28 Dallas
after 1. Popeye Jones came out of his rebounding slump and had about 9
rebounds in the 1st quarter alone (7 was listed with a few minutes left in
the quarter.)
2nd Q: The Mavs coninued the excellent shooting and their sloppy ball
handling. They again committed 7 turnovers. They also didn't box out
very well and Phoenix got a number of offensive rebounds. Motta got a
T after a phantom call on Popeye who was guarding Barkley. [Barkley
was on the baseline, tried to go under Popeye (Popeye didn't budge), leaned
back and shot a fade away baseliner over Popeye's out-stretched hands.
There was about an inch between the two - I saw it clearly when it happened
and then again on the replay.] Motta told the ref: "Don't be afriad of
Charles. We'll give you a bodyguard afterward." He got the T when he
added, "Do your job." The Suns were up 62-61 at the half. Dallas
shot 69% (11-16) in the quarter. For the half, Dallas was shooting 65%
(24-37), but Phoenix attempted 20 more shots than Dallas. The Mavs' 14
turnovers resulted in 18 Phoenix points compared to 5 Suns' turnovers
resulting in 5 Dallas points.
3rd Q: KJ was on fire. He scored the first 6 points of the quarter. The
Suns were running a play of Barkley and KJ on the far side of the court,
the other three players on the other side, and Barkley would set a screen
leaving KJ wide open for a jumper or driving the baseline to make the layup
and/or get the foul. The Mavs didn't have an answer for the play most of
the quarter. Towards the end of the quarter, Lorenzo would double team
KJ when he got ball or set up on the far side. Of course, then the Suns
would pass the ball around finding the open man - usually Manning for the
easy 8-footer. Fortunately, the Mavs' offense was better than their
defense and they were only down 95-90 after 3. The Mavs were still shooting
incredibly well and managed to keep their turnovers down, as well as
snatching most of the rebounds. KJ had 17 points in the quarter.
4th Q: The Mavs started the quarter strong with a 6-0 run to give themselves
a 96-95 lead with 10:03 left. The lead went back and forth through the
middle of the quarter. With 2:54, Phoenix was up 110-109. The Mavs then
went on a 7-0 run, started by a jumper by Tarpley and ending with a driving
layup by Kidd, to put them up 116-110 with 1:53 left. [To be fair, there
was a non-call for KJ during the Mavs' run when he lost the ball out of
bounds - I clearly saw him get hit on his right wrist by Tarpley.]
Barkley got both ref Salvator and Motta laughing when he was scheduled
to shoot free throws and Motta was getting on Salvator's case, Barkley
came over and said, "That was a makeup call for the one he messed up
earlier." Barkley hit both free throws and the Mavs were up 116-112
with 1:41 left. The Mavs built their lead back up to 5 points (118-113)
with 53 seconds left. Manning got up close and nailed 5-footer with
41 seconds left. Danny Ainge (in for the first time in the game)
immediately fouled Kidd on the inbounds (though he nearly did not get
him before he passed the ball away). Kidd stepped to the free throw line
and bricked the first one. And he over-shot the second one. KJ was
fouled driving and made both free throws to cut the Mavs' lead to 118-117
with 35 seconds left. The Mavs ran the clock down looking for a good
shot and Tarpoley missed an 18-footer with 12 seconds left. Phoenix
ran down the court and set up the play on the far side of the court.
Kidd went under the Barkley screen and KJ nailed the open 15 foot baseliner
with 3.1 seconds left. Jackson's running 8 foot one-hander (that he makes
9 times out of 10) rimmed out at the buzzer. Phoenix 119, Dallas 118.
The Mavs really hurt themselves by committing 23 turnovers to Phoenix's
12. They killed themselves by missing 12 freethrows (23-35).
Motta was really going for a win. Only 7 Mavs played with only Tarpley
and Harris coming off the bench. Two of the Js were always in the game.
Former Mav coach Quinn Buckner was at the game, as a guest of Charles
Barkley. This time he was smart and did not visit the Mavs locker room.
Buckner: "They're great. Shoot, they can play. Guys are having fun. I'm
happy for them. Everybody's doing what they should be doing. I'm moving
on, and so are they."
Barkley: "They have a long way to go but have a great future ahead of
them. I think Jason Kidd is one of the most advanced and talented players
to come into the league in a long time."
Barkley also ran to the Mavs' bench after the game finished (and he
finished his own little celebration with his teammates) and hugged Jim
Jackson, Jason Kidd, and Popeye Jones.
Popeye: "He said, 'Hell of an effort out there. Keep your head up. Ya'll
are going to be good.'"
1 2 3 4 Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
Phoenix 28 34 33 24 - 119 .518 .375 .505 .733
Dallas 31 30 29 28 - 118 .623 .250 .568 .657
Halftime: 62-61 Pho
3rd Q: 95-90 Pho
Pho's largest lead: 91-81 3:41 3rd Q
Dal's largest lead: 116-110 1:53 4th Q
Dal's last lead: 118-117 .31 4th Q
Lead changes: 26
Attendance: 17,502 (sell-out)
Technicals: Dallas' Coach Motta 7:35 2nd Q
Officals: Bennett Salvator, Lee Jones, Monty Mutcheon
Phoenix FG 3pt FT Reb
Player Min M-A M-A M-A Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk
Charles Barkley 33 7-20 0-0 8-12 22 5-16 2 3 4 3 0
A.C. Green 37 4-7 1-3 1-2 10 1-3 1 0 1 2 0
Wayman Tisdale 17 3-8 0-0 0-1 6 1-3 1 2 2 2 0
Kevin Johnson 37 10-14 0-1 8-9 28 0-1 11 4 4 3 0
Wesley Person 19 4-5 1-1 0-0 9 0-0 1 0 4 0 0
Dan Majerle 34 6-9 1-3 2-3 15 1-2 3 0 3 0 1
Danny Manning 34 9-20 0-0 0-0 18 3-6 2 2 4 3 1
Eliot Perry 13 3-5 0-0 1-1 7 1-1 3 1 0 0 0
Joe Kleine 14 1-5 0-0 2-2 4 5-8 1 0 5 0 1
Danny Ainge 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0
Totals 240 47-93 3-8 22-30 119 17-40 25 12 28 13 3
Dallas FG 3pt FT Reb
Player Min M-A M-A M-A Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk
Jamal Mashburn 45 11-20 2-6 6-10 30 2-6 7 5 2 1 0
Popeye Jones 37 9-16 0-0 0-0 18 7-20 2 3 4 1 1
Lorenzo Williams 34 3-4 0-0 5-7 11 2-7 4 2 5 0 0
Jason Kidd 42 2-10 0-1 6-10 10 3-7 16 6 3 4 1
Jim Jackson 45 13-19 1-4 4-4 31 0-1 2 3 2 0 0
Roy Tarpley 26 7-10 0-0 2-2 16 2-10 1 2 3 0 0
Lucious Harris 11 1-2 0-1 0-2 2 0-0 0 0 3 1 1
Totals 240 46-81 3-12 23-35 118 16-51 32 21 22 7 3
patricia